African Futures and Childhood Studies in Africa

The central idea of this book is that African children are future-makers. The book ex­plores the connections between changing childhoods and versions of African futures to develop insights into how children are living embodiments of history and prospec­tive agents of social change. Drawing on research in diverse cultural ecologies, the au­thors of ten chapters discuss findings linked to apprenticeship, learning, work, rights, schools, peace, education, aspirations, conflicts and refugee integration—and how these are encountered by children in everyday life. They describe studies in Benin, Bur­kina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The book moves beyond hegemonic notions on African children, affording them the capacity to aspire, widening their creative imaginations in ways that deepen our knowledge of past and present childhoods. While tracing the problems of childhood in the exigencies of so­ciety, children are conceptualised neither as victims nor heroes. Instead, they are social participants whose experiences, values, desires, practices and hopes create a fertile analytical ground from which we may theorise the future and temporality more fully.